SANDALWOOLD FAMILY 199 
elements only, both kinds of flowers on the same plant or on 
different plants, mostly greenish. Calyx adherent to the base of 
the ovary, 3 to 6 lobed; petals none. Stamens as many as the 
lobes of the calyx. Fruit a drupe or nut; seed one. 
COMANDRA, Nutt. 
Characters as above. 
l. C. livida, Richards. NorrHern ComMAnprA. Stem slender, simple, 
4 to 12 in. high. Leaves oval, rounded at apex, tapering at base. Flowers 
in small clusters at the leaf axils, from a slender common flower stem 
about 1 in. long, 1 to 5 flowers in the group. Drupe globose. Vermont 
and northward. June-July. 
2. C. umbellata, Nutt. BastTarp Toap-FLAx. Stem 6 to 18 in. high, 
leafy, branched. Leaves oblong or broad lance-shaped, pale green, acute 
or nearly acute at each end, without leaf-stalks. Flowers in umbel-like 
clusters, a number of these small clusters arising from as many leaf 
axils. Calyx greenish-white. Through the extent of our area. April- 
July. 
Famity IIJ.—ARISTOLOCHIACEAE. Birtuwort FAMILY 
Low herbs, twining vines and, beyond our area, sometimes shrubs, 
with leaves from the root or alternate on a stem. Stipules ab- 
sent; flowers from the axils of the leaves, usually solitary but ex- 
ceptionally in clusters, greenish or purplish. Petals none, the calyx 
tube adhering to the ovary and dividing above the latter into 3 
more or less spreading lobes. In some species beyond our limits 
the lobes are 6 or irregular. Stamens 6 or 12 inserted on the 
short and fleshy style. 
Low herbs, not vines, leaves from the root . . Asarum 
Twining vines or nearly erect herbs, with irregular 
flowers; leaves from the stem . . . . Aristolochia 
1. ASARUM, L. 
Herbs with, generally, two broad heart-shaped leaves starting from the 
root and borne on long leaf-stalks, between which springs the singie 
flower. Root branching, aromatic. Calyx bell-shaped, adherent to the 
ovary, dividing into 3 lobes. Stamens 12, also adherent to the ovary. 
1. A. canadense, L. (Fig. 3, pl. 30.) Win Gincer. Leaves broad 
kidney-shaped at base, with fine silky or downy pubescence. Between 
the two long leaf-stalks arises the slender flower stalk, bearing the 
brownish-purple, bell-shaped flower, the 3 divisions of the calyx extend- 
ing into long slender, tapering points. Generally at the base of trees 
where some, at least, of the wood is decaying. April-May. 
Var, reflecum, (Bicknell.) Robinson, Snort Losep Winp GurInceEr, 
